How to mashup songs

This article was taken from the August issue of Wired
magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before
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You don't need a studio to turn your favourite songs into danceable anthems: just a laptop
and the right software. Chart-topping DJ David Guetta, who
transformed David Bowie's Heroes into a dancefloor hit,
says: "You've got to love the music first, but to say that anybody
can do it is a lie." To make things easier, Guetta explains how to
remix an MP3 using Ableton Live, the program favoured by most
mashup artists.

FIND YOUR HOOK

Drag a track from your iTunes library into an Audio track in Session View. Hit Play.
Adjust the loop markers to select the part you want to sample. This
should be the strongest part of the track -- Guetta took the chorus
from Heroes.

DROP THE BASS

Remove the bass from your sample. Go to Audio Effects, EQ 8.
The first two points on the frequency line correspond to the bass
and can be adjusted to remove it.

HERE COME THE DRUMS

Create a drum track. Go to the Live Device Browser icon and
choose Instruments. Select a drum kit from the Drum Tracks set and
drag it onto the Midi track. Click the round icon at the base of
the drum track. Make sure the Computer Midi Keyboard icon in the
top right is highlighted, then use the keys from the centre row of
your keyboard to hit snares, kicks and high-hats. To record the drums, click the clip's Play button.

BRING BACK THE BASS

Return to Instruments and browse the bass options. You can also
download emulators that recreate the sound of classic basses.
Guetta recommends Minimonsta, which is an emulation of the classic
Moog synthesiser: "It's the fattest bass sound." To access a
plug-in, go to the Plug-In Device Browser, underneath the Live
Device Browser.

UP THE TEMPO

Set the master tempo for your set -- shown in the very top left
corner. Click the Warp button for each clip to make sure individual
clips conform to this.

GET IT TOGETHER

It's time to assemble the components of your track. Click
the Stop Clips button in the Master track on the right, then click
Stop on the main control bar twice to reset all your samples. Press
Record -- now any samples and loops you launch will be part of your
track. Keep things simple: "Have as few elements as possible," says
Guetta. "Everything has to be useful. The more elements, the more muddy the music is."

MAKE THE FINAL CUT

When you're done, hit Stop. Change to Arrangement view by
pressing Tab on your keyboard. Here you can see your mashup laid
out in its entirety. Rearrange the track by dragging and dropping
clips, or jump back to Session View.

Comments

This guide is next to useless for people w/o experience with ableton live, because they won't be able to follow it. Sadly, this guide is also next to useless for people who know their way around ableton live, because the already know that this is the most obvious way to do a mashup.